Ian Anderson's sartorial excellence

Jethro Tull band member revisits prog-rock success with his finely crafted new album

Forty years ago, British progressive rock band Jethro Tull released Thick As A Brick, a tongue-in-cheek “concept” album that parodied the extravagant musical excesses of the period. One 44-minute-long song, a fictional back story about an 8-year-old boy’s epic poem, a faux-provincial newspaper masquerading as the album’s cover art… It was all deliciously satirical in a dry, British way. But it also packed an impressively baroque instrumental punch; Ian Anderson, who successfully introduced the flute to rock music, joined his merry band of players in adding harpsichord, xylophone, timpani, violin, lute, trumpet, saxophone and a string section to Jethro Tull’s hybrid of Highlands folk and hard-hitting blues-rock.

Surprisingly, Thick As A Brick was a massive hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard charts in America; today, it’s still considered a classic rock album. And although Jethro Tull is no longer active, frontman Ian Anderson keeps the band’s legacy alive with Thick As A Brick 2, a sequel released nearly 40 years to the day after its predecessor.

Anderson brings both albums to the St. Augustine Amphitheatre on Sept. 21, and Drift caught up with the cheeky Scotsman to talk about the new record’s narrative thrust, his contradictory charity work and his unabashed love for space exploration.

Drift: You just toured in the Middle East, Ian. What was that experience like?

Ian Anderson: Israel’s always a controversial place to go; simplistic, occasionally well-meaning souls think that boycotting Israel is going to achieve something, but I go there to meet people from different organizations and raise money for charitable bodies connected with the co-education of young Israeli Arabs, Jews, and Christians. [Those charities] school them together and bring them up in tolerance of each other’s religions. Most people wouldn’t find anything wrong with that, but there are those well meaning but inane fools who do on the right wings of both the Jewish and Arab worlds. They just want you to stay in bed, but if you don’t engage, you achieve nothing.

Drift: What led you to conceptualize and record Thick As A Brick 2 exactly40 years after its predecessor?

IA: There have been many invitations and requests from fans, media, and record companies to do a follow-up. But not wanting to wallow in nostalgia and do something rooted in 1972, I politely declined those suggestions. Until I had this notion of a very simple way to make an album for 2012 that would catapult young Gerald Bostock, the fictitious child poet who supposedly wrote the words that became the lyrics to Thick As A Brick 1, 40 years down the line. It’s all based really on that simple question: “I wonder what Gerald Bostock might have become in life.”

Drift: The original Thick As A Brick had a very humorous, satirical vein running through it, right down to the hilarious St. Cleve newspaper serving as cover art for both albums. Is that lyrical standpoint still evident on TAAB 2?

IA: The parody continues in terms of the packaging, but lyrically and musically I left parody behind so I could indulge in a bit of cynicism, anger, regret, and, toward the end of the album, optimism. I thought this one should be a little more serious. Life is serious, especially when we look back on it or look forward to the future.

Drift: Outside of your very active 50-year career in rock ‘n’ roll, you stay busy working with a wide variety of charitable causes. Any particular reason?

IA: The average person spends several hours a week indulging in non-work activity; some people play darts, dominoes, or, God help them, golf. I don’t do those things, so my interests outside of music are more conservation or human rights related, on subjects that I’m fairly passionate about. For instance, I’m a passionate supporter of the Christian church, but I’m not a Christian — let’s get that one straight. And nothing will turn me into one. But I’m a supporter of the culture, tradition, and physical edifices of the cathedral, so I believe in doing my little bit to keep the lid on the buildings. My other interests lie in the conservation of small wildcats, but you’re not going to find me out on the high Andes or in the Amazon basin doing conservation work. I leave that to other people who are better equipped mentally and physically. I’m also a supporter of gay rights, but, as far as I know, I’m not a homosexual. It doesn’t mean that I should not be able to support these things. Some people see this as a big contradiction, but to me there’s no contradiction at all; after all, to be a good paleontologist and teach about dinosaurs, you don’t necessarily have to have sharp, pointy teeth and a long, scaly tail. You can become knowledgeable and concerned about something without necessarily becoming one of those entities that you’re in support of. So to me there’s no contradiction at all.

Drift: Do you have any plans in the future to reunite with Martin Barre and the other Jethro Tull members?

IA: There are no plans to not do that; it’s just a question of when the time is right. It really all depends on whether The Rolling Stones decide to pursue their plan to recruit a flute player for their 50th [anniversary] reunion tour next year. I’ve been waiting to see if I get the call from Keith or Mick, but so far I haven’t had that lucky nod.

Drift: What first led you to pick up the flute and play it in a rock ‘n’ roll fashion?

IA: The primary reason was to find an instrument that Eric Clapton couldn’t play. When I began playing guitar, I got pretty far with it — and then I heard Eric Clapton and realized I should find something else to play. The flute I can’t explain; I saw it hanging on the wall of a music store, and it looked shiny and well engineered and appealed to me in an aesthetic way. I didn’t learn to get a note out of it for about six months, but once people started noticing this little blues band that had a flute player, it became a point of difference that made us stand out from the crowd.

Drift: I assume Jethro Tull has toured through Florida plenty of times in the past. Anything in particular stick out in your mind about our fair state?

IA: If you asked me that in 10 days or so I’d have something great. I’ve been fascinated by the whole space adventure since the earliest days of Sputnik, when I became strongly interested in the development of early rocket technology, which eventually took Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to the moon. In more recent times, I’ve gotten to know a couple of astronauts, and my flute has traveled 100 million kilometer in orbit on the International Space Station. So my band and crew and I have a special tour at Kennedy Space Center lined up just before we come to St. Augustine, and we’re going to meet our astronaut pal Col. Catherine Coleman for the backstage tour. I’ve been before as a tourist, but not with the triple-access pass. They promise they’re going to show me the interstellar warp drive and the anti-gravity equipment; one of us is actually going to make a brief visit to a parallel dimension and hopefully make it back in time for sound check [laughs]. We won’t get to see anything remotely secret, but it’s nice to know you’re in proximity of the cutting edge of space travel’s next generation. Whether it’s manned or unmanned, it’s all incredibly exciting stuff.

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Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson performs Thick As A Brick 1 & 2 at the St. Augustine Amphitheatre at 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21. Tickets range from $29.50 to $69.50, and more information can be found by calling 209-0367 or going to www.StAugAmphitheatre.com.